The Bakers and Bulldogs Mysteries Collection: 20 Book Box Set

by Rosie Sams

  “Are you all right, Mrs. Hennessey?” Colin asked as he came up behind her.

  Melody turned and smiled. “I’m fine, thank you, Colin. That was quite an exciting a few minutes.”

  “Yeah, Elliott Hodge has the habit of causing trouble wherever he goes.”

  “What about Lola, is she all right?

  Colin sighed and shook his head. “It’s common knowledge, so I guess it doesn’t hurt explaining her point of view. She was a great soldier, she was serving in Afghanistan and received bad Intel. Unfortunately, it resulted in her leading her troops into a house wired with an IED. It was a trap. The device went off, several members of the unit were killed, a couple more badly injured, and she received a severe head injury. Since then, she’s found things really hard to cope with.”

  Melody hated to hear such awful news and wanted to help even more. “Is there anything I can do?” As soon as she said the words she knew that they were thoughtless. What could she do?

  Colin turned to her and for the first time since they had met his cheeks remained pale. Caring for his fellow comrade had overcome his embarrassment and shyness around women. “She used to love dogs, I don’t know whether she still does, but if anyone could help her maybe Smudge could. Jake has told me so much about her and how she helped him… and you of course.”

  That was all the encouragement Melody needed. Whenever she saw someone in need, she wanted to help and she knew her little friend felt just the same. Deciding to push her luck she returned to the table, grabbed a cake, and attached a lead to Smudge’s collar. Who could resist one of their cakes and a cute dog? Then she crossed the room.

  Lola tensed as Melody and Smudge drew closer.

  “It’s okay, Lola, Melody means no harm. She was a good friend to me when I needed it and so was this little pup.” Jake bent down and picked Smudge up. The little Frenchie cuddled up against his face and kissed his cheek. It was such a lovely sight to see this big tough veteran behaving like a little kid with a puppy.

  Melody reached out to hand the blueberry and strawberry muffin she was carrying to Lola. “I wasn’t sure if you got any dessert, this is one of my favorites.”

  Lola smiled and was about to take the cake when her gaze turned to Smudge. The Frenchie was still held in Jake’s arms, but her eyes were watching Lola. As the two eyed each other up Smudge cocked her head to one side. It was such a cute sight that it made Melody smile, but Lola backed away as if shocked.

  Lola steadied her breathing. Jake was right, she just had to relax. There was no danger here, there were no tricks, nothing to lead her astray. This woman was just trying to be nice and as much as she wanted to run, what could it hurt to eat the cake?

  As she reached out her eyes caught those of the dog that Jake was holding. It was the last thing she needed for the dog was looking straight at her. Lola wanted to clasp her hands over her ears and shake her head.

  All you need is a cuddle, it will make you better, I help.

  Lola shook her head, why was the dog talking in her mind? “Stop it, would you just stop it.”

  “I’m sorry,” Melody said and pulled back the muffin.

  Lola turned to Melody and shook her head. “Not you, not you, just stop the dog from speaking.”

  “What?!” Jake asked.

  Lola was shaking her head as if she needed to clear something from it. “I can’t bear to hear the dog talking, not now, not anymore.”

  “The what?” Jake asked.

  A tear ran down Lola’s cheek. “The dog speaking.”

  All around them the talking stopped, everyone was staring at Lola in confusion and concern. Then she realized what she’d done. Since her recovery from the head injury, she had heard animals speak. Of course, she knew it was all in her mind, what else could it be? Up to now, she had managed to keep quiet about it. No one knew of her torment. No one knew she must be insane. She had kept quiet because she didn’t want the pity or the looks that she was getting now. It was only because she hadn’t slept for a few days that she had let it slip but what should she do now?

  People were talking, she couldn’t hear their words, but in her head, she could hear the little dog speaking as plainly as day. It was a sweet voice but filled with strength and it pushed her to her limit.

  You okay? I help you, I like you, you need cuddles.

  Lola shook her head but it didn’t help. People’s mouths were opening and closing, their eyes locked on her and the room was closing in. Soon she knew that the noise would come back and it would be deafening. She had to escape. Turning, she ran from the room.

  Chapter Two Hundred Fifty-Three

  “I am so sorry,” Melody said as she watched Lola flee from the room. “I don’t know what I said, should I go after her?”

  Jake shook his head. “It wasn’t you, Melody, she has been fighting some demons. I’ve known for a while that there was something she was hiding. Her head injury was bad and her recovery has been quick and seemed remarkable, but it looks like there are still a few problems there.”

  “Are you going after her?” Melody asked.

  Jake shook his head. “Not just now. I’ve been where she is, she needs time to decompress and to be alone. I will see her tomorrow, that will be soon enough.”

  Lola ran from the hall and out onto the street. It was hot and the dry heat seemed to suck the air from her lungs. For a moment she was back in Afghanistan. The sound of the traffic overwhelmed her. In the distance, a car door slammed and she ducked down to avoid gunfire.

  As she stood, she saw people watching her and embarrassment replaced her fear. With shaking hands, she tore along the sidewalk back to the motel. Once there she raced past the reception and down to her room. Breathing hard, her fingers fumbled in her pocket to search for the key card. It was gone. Panic almost dropped her to her knees but she bit it down and leaned against the wall. Using an exercise that Jake had taught her she closed her eyes and pulled in a deep breath. Counting to three she held it before releasing it to the count of four. Then she pulled in another breath, counting to five as she did, holding it for three, releasing it to four. After two more breaths, increasing the count each time, she felt more in control and began to analyze the situation.

  Maybe she had put the card down at the luncheon? Maybe she had just misplaced it or dropped it out of her pocket. That was much more likely than anything else. The dog had rattled her. At one time, she loved dogs and longed for one of her own. Even in Afghanistan, she had helped to look after the camp dog. It was one that had been found on the roadside and had followed them back from patrol. Part of her had wanted to bring it home with her, but Tank, as he was called, was not hers. He belonged to all of them.

  Her breathing now under control she walked down to reception to get another card. For most people, this was a normal everyday occurrence. Nothing to worry about, but for her, especially at this moment, it felt like climbing a mountain. Still, she pushed on, got the new card, and returned to her room.

  The room looked almost as if no one was staying there. Her clothes were put away, her bag in the cupboard; the only difference was the Bible on the side table and not in the drawer. She read a few passages to calm her nerves and then leaned back on the bed and closed her eyes.

  She had to do something about these voices she heard and why she heard them. Since she had recovered from her head injury animals spoke in her mind. It was mostly dogs, occasionally a sarcastic cat, and once a horse. When it first happened she had screamed, but gradually she had got used to it. So much so that normally she could shut it out and pretend she wasn’t crazy. For, after all, animals didn’t speak, it was just her messed up head following the injury.

  Part of her wanted to talk to Jake or her doctor about this, but she was too afraid of what they would say. She had been signed off as fit to work, and the last thing she needed was to be considered crazy.

  Fatigue weighed her down and she knew that no answers would come until she slept. Visiting the bathroom, she took a sleepin
g tablet from the prescription she had been given and returned to the bed. Maybe after a night’s sleep, she would know what to do. Maybe that Melody woman could help, maybe she could talk to somebody who wasn’t military.

  Melody arrived home tired and a little worried after the long day’s work.

  “Hey, honey, you home?” Alvin called from the kitchen.

  Smudge tugged her lead from Melody’s fingers and raced towards the voice, making Melody smile. “No, it’s not me, it’s a burglar.”

  The sound of Smudge and Alvin reuniting was a good one and Melody came into the kitchen to see the pup being snuck a butter cookie.

  Alvin stood and kissed her cheek, running his hand across her belly. “You certainly stole my heart.”

  Melody chuckled. “That was very cheesy.”

  Alvin laughed and continued stirring the pot on the stove. “Guilty as charged,” he said, keeping up the joke. “How was your day?”

  Melody sighed, though it had been a good day in many ways it was spoiled for her by Lola. “There is a veteran that I’m worried about,” she said.

  “Worried?”

  “A woman, she said some strange things to Smudge.”

  Alvin stopped stirring and turned towards her, a frown marring his handsome face. “You mean threats?”

  “Oh, no, nothing like that… I think she thought Smudge was talking to her.”

  Alvin laughed and turned back to stirring the Bolognese that was on the stove. “You think that all the time.”

  “You’re one to talk,” Melody said as she began to set the table.

  Soon they were eating the fabulous Bolognese and Smudge was having her own meal.

  Later that night as they curled up on the sofa Alvin reached down to stroke her belly again. “Have you felt her/him kick yet?”

  Melody couldn’t help but laugh. “It’s way too soon for that yet.”

  Alvin blushed. Melody loved it when his cheeks turned pink and so did the tips of his ears.

  “I know, I know,” he said. “I’m just so excited I don’t want to miss anything.”

  “You won’t,” Melody said and they sat in silence for a few minutes, Smudge curled up between them.

  “Okay, what’s wrong?” Alvin asked and Smudge whined as if in agreement.

  “I’m just worried about Lola. I know she’s going through something horrible and I really want to help her.”

  “I don’t think there’s anything you can do. I really do sympathize with her. What we do isn’t as bad by any stretch of the imagination as what she’s been through, but I see this in my men sometimes. Don’t worry, Jake will help her. He has the knowledge, training, and the experience to deal with this. Let go of it, you did nothing to make things worse and sometimes you feel too much.”

  “How can you ever feel too much?”

  “Most people can’t, but you can.”

  Smudge rolled over onto her back between them and gave a little yip, demanding for her belly to be rubbed.

  “Anyway,” Alvin said, “we have enough on our plate with this little one… and another one on the way. Let’s watch a movie and relax.”

  “Okay,” Melody said as she leaned against his shoulder at the same time as rubbing Smudge’s belly.

  They ended up watching an Agatha Christie movie which seemed entirely appropriate to Melody and Smudge’s part-time investigations. But before long Alvin was starting to think of baby names.

  “I want something classic, something different but not too different. What do you think about Agatha for a girl?”

  “No!” Melody said.

  “How about Alice?”

  Smudge gave a yip.

  Melody shook her head. “We don’t even know if it’s going to be a girl.”

  “If it is, do you like Alice?”

  Melody thought about it, and it was nice but she wasn’t going to let him get off that easily. She nodded her head back and forth and pursed her lips as if thinking.

  “What about Emily?”

  Before she could say any more Alvin’s phone rang.

  Chapter Two Hundred Fifty-Four

  “Yes... yes… do that. I will be along shortly.” Alvin put the phone down and turned to Melody. “It looks like our night’s going to be cut short after all,” he said as he crossed to the bedroom to get back into his uniform.

  “What’s happening?” Melody asked as she roused a sleeping Smudge from her knee.

  “Oh, just the normal, a dead body in a motel room,” Alvin said with a wink.

  Of course, Melody’s sleuthing instinct kicked straight into gear. “What motel? Man or woman? Was anyone there? Do we know whose room it was?”

  Alvin was just strapping on his gun when he stopped to laugh. “You’ve been taking lessons from Kerry. It was a man, the local motel, and it’s the room of someone called Lola Ramsey.”

  “Lola! I have to come with you.” Melody was already putting on her shoes.

  “Hold your horses, young lady, you need to take things easy in your delicate condition.” Alvin kissed her cheek and was about to walk out the door.

  “My delicate condition? I’m in my first trimester and I’m not ill, I’m pregnant. Besides, Lola was the veteran I was telling you about, maybe I can help?”

  Alvin was shaking his head.

  “Let me put it this way, I can come with you or I can drive myself,” Melody said.

  Alvin shook his head but smiled. “Trust me to fall in love with an independent woman.”

  With Smudge in tow, they were soon on their way to the crime scene. When they pulled-up Wilbur was waiting.

  “Okay, fill me in,” Alvin said.

  Wilbur flipped open his notebook and after taking a quick glance gave his report. “It was 22:35 when a woman screamed and summoned the manager. When he got to her room, he found that woman over there,” Wilbur pointed to a patrol car with Lola handcuffed in the back.” There was a body in her bed, the body of one… Elliott Hodge and the knife was in her hand. It looks pretty much cut and dried. A lover’s quarrel gone wrong. I almost didn’t call you out.”

  “Great job, Wilbur, I just want a quick look at the crime scene before we go any further. Bring the suspect, I want to see her reaction.”

  Melody touched Alvin’s arm. “Are you sure about that? She is suffering and to put her under that much stress could be too much.”

  “Sorry, Mel, I want her under stress. I want to see her reaction when she sees the room again.”

  They made their way to the room. There was what looked like a dribble of blood down one side of the bed and spilling onto the floor. On the bed was the body. Alvin assessed the scene quickly and turned to watch Lola come in.

  When she did, she was almost in a trance. Her eyes glazed, her hands shaking. Melody noticed she did not look at the body. Feeling a pull on the lead, she took her eyes off Lola to see Smudge lapping at the red stains on the bed.

  “No, Smudge.” She pulled the bulldog away horrified that she was licking at the blood.

  Alvin had approached Lola. Melody tried to offer her a smile, but the woman would not meet her eyes. Every now and then they flicked nervously across the room. Melody could see that Alvin thought this was a look of guilt, but she thought that Lola was looking for Smudge.

  “Okay, Miss Ramsey, Alvin said. “Tell me what happened.”

  It was several seconds before Lola could pull her eyes away from the scene and focus on Alvin. “What happened?”

  “That’s what I’m asking you,” Alvin said. “If he got rough with you and this was an accident, or it was self-defense you need to tell us. We can clear this all up, all you have to do is be honest.”

  Lola’s eyes were blank, her face pale, and her hands still shook at her sides. As the coroner’s wagon pulled up outside the sound of the door slamming had her diving for cover.

  “Take it easy, Al,” Melody said slowly as she approached Lola. “You are safe, and you can talk to me, I will call Jake as soon as I can but for now, tell me
what happened?”

  Lola stood up and stared at them, her face so blank it was almost empty. “I came back, I couldn’t find my key, I took a sleeping tablet and that’s the last thing I remember.”

  “Then how did the dead man end up in your bed?” Alvin asked.

  “I don’t know.” Lola’s eyes seemed to focus and she stared beseechingly up at Alvin. “I don’t remember.”

  “That is the weakest explanation I’ve ever heard,” Alvin said. “I have to take you in for questioning.” He reached out to put a hand on her shoulder but she pulled sharply away.

  Lola started to shake as Smudge came over to sit in front of her. Her eyes locked onto the dog and she seemed to relax. “Please, don’t touch me, I will come with you of my own accord, but please don’t touch me.”

  “We won’t,” Melody said before Alvin could stop her. “I will guide you to the car.”

  With Wilbur leading the way, Melody helped Lola to the car. She noticed that the woman gave Smudge a wide berth and kept her eyes on the bulldog as long as she could.

  Once the car had gone, Melody wondered if Lola could have done this. She knew she had to tell Alvin about the altercation earlier. She also knew that would make Lola look guilty. Before she did that, she took out her phone and called Jake. At least Lola would have someone else on her side.

  Chapter Two Hundred Fifty-Five

  It was early the next morning when Alvin came out of the interrogation room. Both Melody and Jake had been in the room at different times but in the end, Alvin wanted time with her alone. Jake had gone home, there were still things to attend to with the memorial luncheon but he had assured Melody that he was there for Lola and that he didn’t believe she was guilty. Melody agreed with him, it just didn’t make sense. However, Alvin was convinced. His theory went that Lola was at the end of her tether, she invited Elliot back to her room, maybe he got a little rough and she lost her temper.